The Aftermath
by SapphiraHP
Summary: The final battle is over and everyone is getting on with their lives. Harry, Ron and Hermionie are living at the former Phoenix HQ and everything is going swimmingly...until
1. Chapter 1

Hermione walked through the door of the former Order of the Phoenix HQ, parcels falling out of her arms as she turned to close the heavy wooden door. She swore softly under her breath and left them on the floor while she hung her coat on one of the hooks in the hall way. She inhaled a deep breath and could detect the slight whiff of something cooking in the oven. As she exhaled a smile crossed her face and looked at the trio's months of hard work.

The months following the battle she, Ron and Harry had spent a long time doing the very mundane in clearing the house up. It had taken them two weeks to get any single room beyond habitable. After that room Hermione had insisted they focus on the hallway, arguing that having a bright atmosphere when they first walk through the door would make the whole thing more pleasant. Ron had tried to argue the point, but as usual had lost.

At the thought of Ron she frowned and picked the parcels up, moving them towards the kitchen. The two had had a fight before she left, something about…she shook her head as she couldn't even remember. As she swung the door open she saw Harry there with Mrs Weasley and Ginny. Mrs Weasley was attempting to teach Harry how to cook chicken, and judging by the perplexed look on his face he wasn't following very well.

"Hermione my dear!" said Mrs Weasley, a smile beaming across her face, which fell when she saw how loaded Hermione was. Her glance then fell to the surfaces and table, which were all covered in cooking equipment.

"Ah no worries, I'll just put them in the living room" Hermione walked back out. She should have remembered that tonight there was a good number coming round for dinner. It was not and uncommon occurrence now, indeed the house had been renamed `Hogwarts Hovel.' The three had adopted an 'open door' policy, with any who helped in the battle welcome.

The three of them had moved in soon after the clear up of Hogwarts, and once a couple of rooms were serviceable Neville, Seamus and Dean had been regular visitors. Lavender and Pavati were also no strangers.

What was strange however was the visits of Draco Malfoy, he had started coming round when they were still clearing the place up. It seemed that saving his life had had the same effect on him as it had had on Hermione all those years ago. He was willing to help, even when they gave him the worst jobs. He had simply rolled up his sleeves and got stuck in.

As Hermione walked down the hall a clatter caught her attention. She turned and dropped her parcels. Stood there was Ron, pale as a ghost, his front stained with blood.

"Herm, I'm sorry" he said before falling to his knees.

**A/N: ok who wants more? Review please **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry it's been a while uploading, I wrote the end of the last one ambiguous so i could decide where i wanted the story to go. Trouble with that is i don't know if the way i picked is right or not. Anyway let me know what you think!**

Ron fell forward into Hermionie's arms, his weight dragging her down to the floor. She turned him over to face her, her hand rested on his chest where the crimson was spreading. In her mind though there was a faint hope. It couldn't be his, he wouldn't be here. He couldn't have been hurt here. She cradled his head in her arms making shushing noises and trying to hold back tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. As he looked at her Ron smiled

"Hermionie" he began, his breath coming short "I…I love…." his eyes unfocused and stared at a point past Hermionies head.

Hermionie never remembered what happened next. She vaguely knew she had gotten up and gone to the kitchen. Then there had been a loud noise and people rushing to her. Two had red hair the other black. Hands had sat her down later on a bench and a goblet placed in her hand. Crying, someone had been crying. Then she was in bed, laid staring at the ceiling. Darkness then light, darkness again.

In the light again someone with black hair came in, he shook her shoulder and she willed her brain to work, to remember. After what seemed an eternity she came with a name. Harry. She saw his eyes were rimmed with red, a forced smile on his face. A smile the first she'd seen since…and never again. No smile with red hair. No more jokes. Nothing ever ever again. She finally broke down in Harry's arms, sobs shaking her whole body until it hurt. It hurt so much.

When they had stopped and her brain was working again she noticed Ginny had joined them and also had tears streaming down her face. She was laid on the bed next to Hermionie hugging her legs. Harry had his arm around Hermionie, holding her tight as if he would never let go. Inexplicably Hermionie began to laugh nervously. At this Ginny looked insulted and stared at Hermionie as if she had gone mad. She thought she may have as the image that had come into her head was that of Ron walking in and calling them all sissy's for being so stupid. Of course this was ridiculous. Both because he wouldn't say that in the circumstance and it couldn't happen. However upon explaining this to the other two they too began to giggle. Their bodies crying out for some release other than exhausting tears.

She found the strength later that day, after having something to eat and drink, to ask what had happened two days ago.

"we still don't know" said Harry, "Ron…Ron was killed by something, that much is obvious" his voice was monotone, devoid of emotion it was easier to talk about "but not a spell, it seems he was killed by muggle means"

"what we do know" interjected Ginny "is that he cast an apparation spell after he was hit, he came here instead of St Mungos"

"Why? Why would he do that?" asked Hermionie.

"his injuries couldn't be healed. It's amazing he even managed to cast the spell and get here"

"he…came here to.."

"to say goodbye, to you Hermionie. Remember that. He loved you above all else, even his own life."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry it's taken a while for this chapter i got stuck after the last one as to what to write! There was a bit of confusion about the last one. Ron used the last of his strength to get to Hermionie as he was too badly injured to be saved. The only thing that kept him alive that long was his will to see her one last time. Hope this clears it up :). Anyway new chapter, review as always**

Hermionie nodded slowly on hearing this. After a few minutes silence Ginny leant over and gently laid a hand on Harry's arm, his eyes moved from Hermionie's face to Ginny's. At her nod the two got up and left Hermionie to her thoughts, knowing they would hear if she needed them again. Hermionie was grateful that her two friends trusted her enough to be left with her own thoughts. She needed to process this information about Ron; to confirm what they said about him was true. First about why he came back to her. Only then could her mind logically assess why he had died. Every time she thought of the why a little swell of anger began in her gut, which she kept pressing down. There would be a time for anger later, once immediate grief was no longer blinding her.

She moved to a small cupboard in the corner of the room. On the top was a collection of pictures of the people closest to her. At the front stood Ron, waving insanely at the camera. It had been taken in their sixth year, before they had admitted to their feelings, even so his arm was around her. She shook her head as tears began to well in her eyes, and opened the drawer. Inside was a box in which she had collected the letters that Ron had sent her. She rifled down until she found one that he had given to her in person. He had written it when the three had fallen out while they were on the run. She opened it and read the contents;

**Dear Hermionie**

**I guess I should have known you would pick Harry over me any day. At least he can follow your leaps of logic sometimes, I'm just the stupid side kick. It reminds me of those muggle comics you made me read once, where there's always a brains, a hero and the sidekick. The one who always gets kidnapped, the one who just follows what the other two do. I'm sick Hermionie, I'm sick of playing that role. You will be far happier with him than me.**

**That's the crunch though. I want you to be happy. I want you. I want your happiness to come before mine. If that means leaving you be then I will do that. Much as I hate this, as much as I hate being the sidekick, seeing you happy is the one reason why I would ever stop. **

**But I can't live without you Hermionie, I may want you to be happy, but if that can't be with me….I don't know what I will do. I need you in my life. You are my whole world, I would die to see you happy, but I would throw myself to death if it meant I got to see you one last time beforehand. **

**I'm not sure how much time any of us have left, I want to spend however long that is with you. I've arsed that up now though. I may never see you again, and that's killing me. But I live on in the hope I will see you again. That I can find you and tell you, tell you both, how sorry I am.**

**I love you Hermionie, with all my heart, with all my soul. I'm coming to find you both to tell you that, but if I don't I hope this finds you someday. Just so you know, I will do anything for you.**

**All my love**

**Ron **

Hermionie read the last line over and over again. As if staring at his name would bring him back. The letter confirmed what Harry had told her. For some reason though seeing it written had more meaning to her than the words. Wiping her eyes again she replaced the letter. Found a towel and had a long shower in the bathroom adjacent to her room. Her mind whirled with facts now, but she would wait until after the funeral before she would act on anything. As she left the bathroom she got dressed in robes and put her hair in a simple ponytail, before heading downstairs. There she found Harry and Ginny in the kitchen sat on opposite sides of the table. Each had a goblet in their hands. A third figure had his back to the door, the hood of their cloak was up, but the quality could only belong to one person. Draco. As she entered she softly tapped on the door so she didn't startle the trio. Harry and Ginny looked up and smiled weakly at her. Their smiles reminded her that they too were hurting, but it seemed they were dealing with it a lot better than her.

Draco turned as she moved to sit next to Ginny, as he did his hood fell revealing his pale face and hair. His steel eyes were hardened, showing nothing. Hardly surprising as he had gotten along worst with Ron. As she sat down Harry filled a fourth goblet with butterbeer and waited for her to take a sip before he spoke.

"Draco's just offered us his help in finding what happened" he nodded to Draco who continued

"I realise myself and Ron never got along, but it truly pains me to see how much it hurt you guys. Brought up with my father grief wasn't a word he ever taught me. I cannot understand what you are going through, only that it hurts. If you need someone with cold rationale to help, I'm your guy"

Hermionie almost barked with laughter at his offer. It was totally inappropriate considering how soon it was after. His thoughts though echoed her own ones, though she had decided to leave it for the present, that it needed looking into. His offer was obviously as close to heartfelt as he could get when it didn't concern his mother. It also made sense. She nodded slowly

"after the funeral" she said. At this Harry and Ginny also voiced their agreements.

"speaking of the funeral" Hermionie continued "when is it?"

"Mum and Dad have organised it for two days time" Ginny said staring at her drink "I think Mum just wanted something to do, she did the same with….with Fred"

"Three days then" said Hermionie "before that we remember Ron the person"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day at breakfast green flames appeared in the kitchen fireplace and Mrs Weasley stepped out, shaking the ash from her apron.

"Good morning dears" she said a little too brightly "Hermionie I hate to ask this of you but do you… do you have any pictures of him?" at this she broke down, causing Ginny to rush over and hug her mother tightly.

"It's…it's just that, I have a lot of… of him as a child, a young child that is, but very few later ones, and… and the relatives want to to see some later" she said in between sobs. Hermionie got up and went to her room, grabbing the pictures off the cupboard. She handed them in their frames to Mrs Weasley who had calmed a little.

"Do you mind if I just borrow the pictures?" she asked "we have a little display of them next to the…the site"

"of course" said Hermionie and she took a couple and began removing the backs to release the pictures. As she removed the back of the one of the two of them a piece of paper fell to the floor. Harry bent to pick it up thinking Hermionie had put it there, until he saw Ron's scrawl handwriting and that it was still sealed.

"Um Hermionie? I think this may help in a couple of days" he said under his breath so Mrs Weasley couldn't hear.

Hermionie caught his tone and glanced at the slim envelope in his hand, her eyes widened slightly. She nodded subtly and continued with the rest of the pictures.


	4. Chapter 4

The funeral had been a surprisingly quiet affair. With so many after the battle most of those invited just couldn't face another one. Luna and Neville were there of course, along with Dean and Seamus. They all arrived at the Burrow in their sombre dress robes about an hour before the ceremony. Hermionie had a brief flashback of Ron in his dress robes from the Yule ball and a she allowed a smile to ghost her face. She had the distinct feeling she would have very little to smile about today, to make the day easier she had on a certain level decided to take the small things that came that day. It was then that she glanced at the calendar, August 30th. Across the country there would be muggle-borns preparing to go to Hogwarts because of what they had done mere months ago. Ginny and Luna were also preparing for their final year, and had promised the 3 of them that they would make sure the first years knew the cost by which they came, unknowing that yet another name would be added to the list of those said with reverence.

Hermionie's eyes moved to the kitchen door where Harry was greeting Fleur and Bill who had just apparated into the garden and walked through the open door. She nodded politely in their direction, the pain in Bill's eyes spoke mountains.

"It looks like rain" said a dreamy voice behind her "good it will keep the nargles at bay, they only come out in the light".

A statement like that would have annoyed Hermionie not so long ago, now she felt a wave of gratitude towards Luna.

"How are you two?" she directed at Neville and Luna, who was still staring out a window.

"Oh the usual" replied Neville "nan won't stop talking about the battle, I almost preferred it when she was griping at me the whole time. Now I have my own expectations to live up to" Despite his words there was a hint of pride there. Hermionie couldn't help but think that Neville and Harry had more in common than most gave either credit for. Both in their own way living in the shadows of their parents for so long, and both succeeding in surpassing the expectations laid onto them.

"My mum always said it's your expectations that you must live by" Luna said sombrely, "I'm looking forward to school again this year, it will be good to see everyone again" she added with a smile.

"You better keep in contact over the term, let us know how it's going" said Hermionie.

"Oh I will, I imagine it will be easy compared to last year"

At that moment Mrs Weasley bustled past with her cloak on, the time had come. Hermionie picked her own cloak up from where it had been folded on a chair, and left the house with everyone else. Their destination was the churchyard in the village down the road from The Burrow, as everyone else headed towards it Hermionie and Harry hung back with the Weasley's who were hovering around the garden while Mrs Weasley was fumbling with her keys. Her hands were shaking too badly to lock the front door of the house. Mr Weasley moved to her side and gently guided her hand towards the door.

Hermionie looked away, the gesture reminded her too deeply of Ron. As she turned she saw Harry with his arm around Ginny's shoulders, already there were tears streaming down the younger girl's face. Behind them stood George in his black dragon-skin suit, along with Charlie, Bill and Fleur. Hermionie moved towards Harry, who gave her a small smile and moved his arm from around Ginny. He held Ginny's hand and held the other out for Hermionie, which she took.

"Right" said Mr Weasley in a voice that was a little too hearty, "let's say goodbye".

He then walked past them all with Mrs Weasley and slowly the group moved towards the village. Noticing that no-one was speaking the trio hung back slightly and began discussing their plans to keep their minds off what was coming.

"We can easily get the report from St Mungo's" said Ginny, who was going to be keeping close contact with the two of them whilst at Hogwarts.

"well when you say we…" Harry started

"Okay you, I can't 'cos I won't be here"

"we don't even need to do that" Hermionie pointed out "the whole thing was in the Prophet" the other two looked at her nonplussed

"yes I still get it, I know it's a pile of dragon dung, but it's good to keep and eye on them"

"what did it say?" asked Harry

"Later" she hushed with a pointed look forward where they were nearing the church, and the group of people who had got there a head of them. Most wore formal dress robes though there was one woman who had a large black veil covering her face; next to her was a stooped figure in a large cloak with a long walking stick on which they were leaning.

As the Weasleys entered the site everyone else fell in behind them, following them towards a spot near the back of the cemetery. Next to a recently disturbed patch of earth was a headstone and a simple coffin floating above a hole in the ground, obscuring the stone's behind it.

The group slowly assembled around the coffin and a short wizard stepped forward and cleared his throat. He began to speak of the tragic loss of one so young, after the first few words Hermionie had to zone him out. However noble the speaker was trying to make Ron sound it all sounded too rehearsed and too….cheesy. She came back however when she heard Harry next to her also clear his throat, catching the attention of everyone there.

"With the permission of the family I would like to add a few words" he began formally, "Ron was the best friend I could ever ask for, he wasn't perfect, but he stuck by us despite everything. He made everyday enjoyable with his humour, and his faults. If it wasn't for him I…we… wouldn't be here. I…I can…" he took a deep breath "I can't say how much any of us will miss him, what I can say is this"

"Ron never expected anything, and often admitted he felt like he had little. What he did have he gave freely, and that made him richer than anyone"

Harry went quiet, the silence filled by a bawling Mrs Weasley.

The speaker stepped forward and waved his wand and, in fluid motion, the coffin descended and a pile of dirt covered it. Slowly the group of mourners moved away. Ginny pulled Harry away, Hermionie could see his chest was heaving. She brought her attention back to the pile of dirt in front of her, and the stone there. It read simply

"_Here Lies Ronald Weasley_

_1980-1998_

_Brother, Friend_

_He Saw The World A Better Place_

She stood for several minutes, thinking she was alone, until she heard a sob next to her. There stood George, his eyes slowly moving from the ground to Ron's headstone, then to the one to the left. Hermionie followed his eyes. There engraved in stone was the name 'Fred Weasley'. Silently she moved next to him and hugged his stocky frame. After standing for a few moments George moved his arms around her and hugged her fiercely. She stood there while his whole body began to shake as sobs ran through it. After a while she allowed him to lead her away from the two stones to the road. His arm was still around her shoulders, the comfort she got from the gesture was immense. They walked through the cemetery in silence.

When they got to the road Hermionie noticed it had gotten dark while they had stood at the graveside. George also looked up.

"When'd that happen?" he said flatly "Man I'm such a mess" he admitted stopping in the road, causing Hermionie to stop also.

"Give me a sec k?" he said, and rubbed his face with both hands "Don't tell anyone, wouldn't do for business" he said with a grin.

"Tell anyone what?" Hermionie replied with a grin.

They chatted about nothings until they got to the gate, where Hermionie said goodbye, unable to face those inside. She then apparated back to Grimmauld Place, where she found Harry and Ginny already there. They were sitting in the living room one of two battered sofas they had found over the summer. As she entered they both looked up, seeing the question in their eyes she said

"So. Shall we start?"

A/N: Bit of a longer chapter this time, i just couldn't stop! I finally decided on some aspects for later chapters (woo) which is part of the reason i haven't updated in a while. Anyway let me know what you think :D and thanks for reading this far.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry frowned in frustration. They had gone over everything at least ten times and were no closer to determining what had happened that night than they were when they started. If only they could even determine what type of obejct or spell had been used on Ron they would be closer. However despite the combined experience of each of the young wizards sat in the kitchen, they could not think of any spell/oject combo that came close to the slicing yet caustic blast that had caused Ron's chest wound. Their current thory was though it was a muggle item that had killed him, the unnatural circumstance suggested that it had been affected magically, but that was as far as they had got. They were having a break after going in circles for hours and were sat in silence, aside from Hermionie who was going over her notes yet again. Draco, who had joined them sometime after the funeral had finished, had left to get some fresh air once the break had been called. Ginny was rooting through the cupboards for something to eat.

Harry removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, there had to be _something. _If only they could get the help of the aurors, but they were still rounding up the remnants of the death eaters, who seemed to fall into two categories. Those who very publicly performed raids, and those who had magically disappeared. Draco himself was classed as "safe". In that, thanks to the testimonies of Harry, Ron and Hermionie, he and his mother had much greater freedom than almost all other death eaters. Though they still had to fill in paperwork, as well as meet with three senior aurors, concerning planned trips abroad, or changes of residence. There were also restrictions on apparition. Despite the fall in their family's fortunes, Draco had bought an apartment on the edge of London. This meant he was always at hand should he be needed. His argument was that he should at the very least do what he could to make up for what he had done. This was much more easily achieved with him living close to the hub, he could apparate within London, without having a team of aurors on his back.

The attack on Ron may have been the work of a lone Death Eater, but why him? Harry just couldn't work his head around it. Hermionie was positively flustered by the whole thing.

"If only I had access to decent spell books" she said suddenly, the curse was all they had to work on currently, if it was a particularly hard or unusual curse then that would narrow down their possibilities slightly. That and a confirmation of the report in the Daily Prophet, just to make sure it was correct, would point them in the right direction.

Harry suddenly sat up right

"what time is it?" he said.

"ten o'clock, why?" she replied absently

"Ginny! Train! Packing!" he yelled, jumping up.

"Harry calm down," Ginny said mildly, "I'm all packed, I just need to apparate near the station"

"We're coming with you" he said suddenly.

"what? But Harry I thought we were going to solve this, we've done all this, we can't just up and leave, even to see Ginny off" Said Hermionie incredulously.

Harry's face a had a huge grin on it. "Oh we're not just seeing her off, we're going _with _her, to Hogwarts". At that moment the door opened and Draco strode in "What's this about Hogwarts?" he asked as he sat down.

"Nothing" replied Hermionie, "Harry's just been up too long"

"No I haven't" he said "think about it, we need the help of more experienced witches and wizards, I'm sure the teachers will help us there, we need access to more spell books, there's the library. What's more if it _is_ a rare spell, it will have books about who can use it" he finished triumphantly. "like they do for the animagus."

"That's an exception, hardly any spells, and their results, are monitored" countered Hermionie

"Look, it's a start. And there's other benefits to having access to the knowledge Hogwarts holds"

"but, but don't we need to ask Mcgonagal about this?" asked Hermionie

"Hermionie, we saved the world, I'm sure the least we can ask is help now and then"

Hermionie considered it for a while, "I'm going to Floo her anyway, just in case" she resigned.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Sat in her office, Minerva Mcgonagall sat reviewing the plans for the evening. Several hundred students would all be arriving in a matter of hours and she wanted to triple check all the arrangements for getting them, and their luggage, to the castle safely.

"You'll do fine" a voice came from above her,

"This year is different Albus, the school isn't the same, most of the pupils have been affected badly by what happened last year. Many of the second years didn't even want to come back after the methods used by you-know-who's cronies and… Miss Granger? What are you doing in my fire?"

"Sorry to interrupt professor, but me and Harry have a favour to ask"

"Name it" replied the professor and Hermionie proceeded to explain Harry's plan.

"You've cut it rather fine Miss Granger, but I'm sure we can accommodate you, if you come to my office immediately off the train and we can talk about it in more detail"

She sighed as the head disappeared from the flames.

"Miss Granger raises an interesting point" Dumbledore stated

"oh?"

"Both she and Harry have missed out of valuable help and knowledge, not just last year, but with each years…distractions. That should be rectified, along with a confirmation and closure over Mr Weasley" even in the painting, a shadow crossed the old headmaster's face at the tragedy.

"I will do everything to make their investigations, and accommodation, as comfortable as possible"

"Maybe they would feel more motivated, and at home, if they were put in their old house"

"Maybe"

______________________________________________________________________________

"Come on! We're going to be late for the train!" Harry yelled, he couldn't help but think how strange it was getting on the train again after all this time.

"Coming, coming" replied Hermionie.

"Okay, three, two, one" and with a crack they apparated to a point near Kings Cross. They hurried to the platform, ignoring the stares of the muggles around them. Hermionie and Harry had only a rucksack each, though Hermionie also had her pouch, which Harry suspected held a lot more. Ginny however had her luggage for the year on a large trolley. They approached the barrier and subtly leant against it. On the other side the train was still there. The three climbed aboard and found an empty compartment. Harry checked his watch an sighed, they'd made it with ten minutes still to spare. As they were sat a knock came to the window and there stood Mrs Weasley. She waved at the three and mouthed at Ginny, pointing towards the door. Ginny rolled her eyes and left to say good bye to her mother.

Hermionie had been quiet ever since they had got on the train. Harry had been afraid of this, getting the train, and even going to Hogwarts, would dredge up old memories. A part of him had wanted to apparate straight there, but this way the three got a chance to talk about their plan in more detail on the way to the school. A knock came at the compartment, there at the door stood Draco. His face was obscured by a cloak, as being recognised for him could be costly. A lot of people had used him as the sole scapegoat for the first battle of Hogwarts in his sixth year, and even for much of what happened last year.

He sat down next to Hermionie, and spoke in a low voice. "I've had a word with McGonagall. I asked if I could help you out in any way I could, as I know a similar amount to you. However I've no emotional ties to get in the way if the details get gory. She's offered me a place in the castle away from the student populace to avoid confrontations."

"That sounds.."

"wait, before you accept, you should know I am getting something from this." Draco interrupted, "she's offered to talk to the minister if I put my all into this. To help change my image so I can live normally."

"she's going to change your face?" Hermionie asked

"Face, name, everything that comes with an image, I'll get a new start and be able to live. Of course I have to prove that I deserve it. So what do you guys think? Can I work with you? McGonagall will be relying on you keep her updated on how I'm doing"

Harry considered it briefly, caught Hermionie's eye and nodded. She turned to Draco, held out her hand and said

"Welcome to the team"

As the whistle blew, Ginny re-entered the compartment, a basket of cookies and biscuits in her hand. She started slightly on seeing the cloaked form of Draco, but relaxed when she realised who it was. She placed the basket next to Harry, pausing to kiss his cheek, and closed the curtains of the compartment. She then flicked her wand, and mumbled a few spells. One to stop people over hearing them, and another that would make those about to knock suddenly remember something they may have forgotten. She sat down with a sigh next to Harry, opposite Draco. Moving the basket out between them, she helped herself to a large chocolate chip cookie, and held the basket out to the others, before putting it on the floor in between the two seats.

Harry briefly explained Draco's presence, and Ginny added her approval. They sat in silence for a while, until Hermionie broke it.

"I brought this long with me" Hermionie said, she brought out an old copy of the Daily Prophet. It was dated two days after Ron had been killed, and the headline stated "Tragic termination of Golden Trio", with a large picture of Ron on the front from after the battle. He was unrecognisable from the joking, happy, fiercely protective friend that Harry had known. That made looking at it easier, as it gave the article a distance. As he read he couldn't help snicker at a few bits. The prophet still had a unique way of over dramatising everything and placing people into black and white categories. Whilst Ron was described as the "brave unsung hero of the war", his murderer was the "cold hearted, evil, death eater".

"Jumping to conclusions a bit there aren't they?" said Harry as he read it aloud. Shaking his head he continued through the vomit worthy biography of Ron's "tragically short" life. He found himself holding back laughter when it got to the description of Ron's friendship between himself and Hermionie. Hermionie was also shaking with giggles. Harry paused in his reading, to look at who wrote the article, "Rita Skeeter, should have known" he said. He flipped to page 6 where the prophet had 'exclusive' access to the report. However when Harry read through he noticed what Hermionie hadn't in her state. The prophet hadn't printed the report, only hinted at possibilities, it stated that it "appears Ronald was hit from behind" however Harry had seen his friends body, there had been no damage to the back. The prophet had gone from fantasies to completely making stuff up.

"it makes sense really," said Draco, "there would have been uproar if they had got hold of the report and published every detail"

"so where does this leave us?" asked Hermionie, mortified at her mistake.

"Right where we started" Harry sighed, "lets just hope we can find the help we need at Hogwarts."

* * *

**A/N: I'm incrediably sorry it's taken me a ridiculous amount of time to update! i had the start to this floating around my computer for about a month before finishing it. Anyway i hope you liked it. Any remarks/comments/feedback/questions are very welcome as always :).**


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